


Sans and Undyne in Hotland

by mathmusic8



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Behind the Scenes in a Pacifist Run, Does this count as a sick/recovery fic?, Gen, In-Game Setting, One Shot, Sans has a Magical Medical Condition, but I think this can be considered a standalone, idk haha, which is set up in my other fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:09:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25460680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mathmusic8/pseuds/mathmusic8
Summary: After Undyne is spared by the human, she doubles back to help (and get help from) Sans, and together they deal with their respective health issues. And mathmusic8 isn't very creative with titles.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 30





	Sans and Undyne in Hotland

“C’mon you stupid bonehead, where is it?” Undyne growled. She fished through the unconscious skeleton’s shorts pockets with no luck, but in the left pocket of his jacket she finally found an emergency dose of soul booster magic. Undyne uncapped the syringe, pulled Sans's soul out with her green magic, and stabbed it with the needle. Once the syringe was empty, Undyne set it aside and went to shake Sans's shoulders, but her own wobbly knees finally gave out from under her. At least Undyne managed to fall-slash-sit in the shade of Sans's sentry station, for all the good that it did—the heat came from below, not above.

Once she was securely situated, Undyne reached over and gave Sans's limp leg bones a shake. “Wake up already, you punk!”

That seemed to do the trick. Sans groaned and woke up. He blinked owlishly at the scene before him for a few seconds, and then his eyesockets widened in realization. “i passed out,” he stated. Looking down at Undyne, his eyelights shrank to pinpricks. “you're about to pass out, too, aren’t you?”

“Been there done that,” Undyne grunted. She was breathing hard, however, and darkness rimmed her vision again. She didn’t have much time. “Look, I know you just woke up so you’re not in the best shape right now, but I need—”

_CLICK_

Everything went dark.

_CLICK_

The next thing Undyne knew, she was still sitting in the same exact position, but now she was sitting against the wall in the swampy heaven of her own home. Sans had also come along, though he was standing now and offering Undyne a hand. "we might both be cripples at the moment, but i think i’m in a slightly better position to help, if I do say so myself," Sans said with that frozen smile of his.

Undyne took his hand and he pulled her up with surprising force, though they both staggered a few steps afterwards. Undyne caught Sans's shoulder, and by supporting each other, they were able to stabilize in an upright position.

“Right. Uh. Might need help out of this armor,” Undyne sighed.

“got it,” Sans acknowledged. His thin finger bones were quick and clever around knots, and slowly, piece by piece, the armor fell away and Undyne's overheated scales met open cool air. She wore her usual tank top and leggings underneath, and even though they were soaked through with sweat, her skin still felt as dry as a potato chip. More than once she started to sway on her feet, but Sans was right there each time, supporting her by the elbows until the dizzy spell passed.

When Undyne was finally, _finally_ free from her travelling oven, Sans sat her down at the table and waddled between her and the kitchen sink as he filled her cup with water as fast as she could drink it, occasionally dumping half a cup over her head as well so she could absorb some straight through her skin.

Within half an hour, Undyne no longer felt like she was being baked alive. Sans, on the other hand, was teetering from side to side as she drank her final cup, his skull covered in sweat. Undyne got to her feet, pushed Sans into the other kitchen stool (the dry one), and put her fists on her hips.

"Alright, that's enough fussing over me. What do _you_ need?"

As soon as he was no longer in motion, Sans sagged forward against the table and blinked several times—it took a bit longer than usual for her words to sink in. “food,” he grunted, and continued in a thick slur, “dossn't mmatter wha’ kind. Jus’ ssssomethn’ th’ heals.”

“How about tea?”

“t’kes too lon’ t’mmake,” Sans mumbled. He pillowed his face in his arms on her table, but she could hear his bones rattling under his jacket.

Undyne caught the sense of urgency and tore through her cupboards for anything prepackaged or on-the-go. “Alright, um, um! AHA! Here! Have some noodles! Hope you don’t mind them dry.” Undyne chucked the package of instant noodles at the skeleton.

Sans lifted his head and reached for the package, but his depth perception seemed off—his hand both fell short and then overshot before his fingerbones made contact and he pulled the package close to himself, and then he weakly fumbled with the plastic covering as if he were a toddler, his eyelights growing larger and fuzzier by the second. Undyne rushed over, tore it open for him, and shoved the block of dry noodles at his teeth, holding his shoulder to keep him from falling over. She sighed in relief when the block started phasing through his teeth in sections, and Sans’s shaking gradually subsided.

By the time he finished the noodles, Sans looked almost like his normal relaxed self, just a lot more tired than normal. He propped his elbows on the table and rubbed his cheekbones. “thanks undyne. that could’ve been really bad.”

Undyne had always had a streak of morbid curiosity. She asked, “How bad?”

Sans shook his head and his hands clenched around his jacket sleeves. “’m not supposed to use magic for at least an hour after an episode. two hours would be better. and i usually eat somethin’ solid immediately. but one time i uh . . . well, i basically dropped into a coma, and that would’ve been a real mess with a human running around at the moment.” Ever the master of dodging both bullets and conversation topics, Sans quickly asked, “is that why you ended up in hotland? were you chasing the kid?”

Undyne scowled at the mention of the human. “. . . Yeah. The squirt booked it over there every time I had to rest my green magic. I saw you passed out, but I was _right_ _on their tail_ , Sans, I _had to_ —” Undyne cut herself off and shook her head.

Sans understood what she was saying. She knew his episodes could be life-threatening, but if she’d been able to capture a human? They could break the barrier. No single monster’s personal health could be more important when their freedom was so close. Sans didn’t begrudge her that. “’s alright, i get it,” he said, freeing Undyne from trying to apologize.

She slouched forward and pillowed her pillowed into her arms, just like Sans had earlier. “The human tried to spare me, Sans. I wasn't buying it, but when I collapsed on the bridge . . . that kid poured a cup of water on my face. Probably saved my life. Or at least a trip to the hospital. They could’ve just walked away and left me . . . so I guess they did spare me in the end anyway. Probably buttering me up so I won’t chase after them anymore.”

Sans made no indication of approval or outrage for the human’s actions—whatever thoughts he might’ve had on the matter were locked behind that frozen smile. All he said was, “i need to get going. i imagine Papyrus will be by soon for his training.”

“Oh yeah,” Undyne said. “Hey, thanks Sans. If you hadn’t been there, I think I seriously might’ve died, creepy weird human mercy notwithstanding.”

“yeah, uh, same,” Sans said. He stood up, took a moment to steady himself, and then shuffled to the door.

Undyne got up and got the door for him—his boney frame wasn’t heavy enough to trigger her super awesome vertical sliding door. “You take it easy for a bit, though, alright?”

“don't worry, my hotdog stand is at the top of my list right now. ‘s got lots of food and enough monsters around to help me out if i need anythin’. if i see the human come by, i’ll be sure to let rg 01 and rg 02 know. thanks again for the noodles.”

Undyne waved in acknowledgment and Sans walked out. When Undyne closed the door, she didn't hear any more footsteps, however, and when she cracked her door open, there were no skeletons in sight.

_Oh well. At least he didn't make the world blink again._

Undyne closed the door and sat down at her piano, pounding simple chord progressions as she tried to wrangle in her thoughts.

This human . . . what was their deal? They were going against Undyne had ever known about humans, and somehow surviving and befriending everyone along the way.

She didn't buy it. She didn't know if she could destroy them after the pure act of kindness they had shown her, but she wasn't going to get swooped up in the Hug a Human Day crap going on, either.


End file.
